Famous Artists & Paintings -- By Century

The Arnolfini Portrait (1434), van Eyck

15th Century

In this article, I'd like to review famous artists and their paintings, starting with the 15th century, highlighting my favorites. Earlier art primarily focused on religious subjects which, though ornately detailed, was pretty homogenous. Let's start with a work by Jan van Eyck, whose Arnolfini Portrait was included in my Avatars, Doppelgangers, and Lookalikes post. One of the most recognizable paintings of the 15th century, this double portrait also captures the couple's reflection in the convex mirror hung in the background. I saw it in person at the National Gallery of London in 2017. Van Eyck was considered an innovator, some saying that he created oil painting.

"Salvator Mundi" (1500), da Vinci

16th Century

At the beginning of the 16th century, Leonardo da Vinci painted this classic portrait that eventually sold for $450.3M. It was supposed to be on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2018, but it has yet to be seen in public. See my June 2020 post, entitled Encouraging Artistic Expression, for more details. His other more famous portrait, Mona Lisa, was painted during the same period. I saw her at the Louvre in Paris in 2011. His Madonna Litta was painted toward the end of the 15th century, residing at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, where I visited in 2019.

The Hunters in the Snow (1565),
Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Later in the 16th century, Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder created The Hunters in the Snow. A large print of the landscape hung in my father's office at Price Waterhouse in NYC. It has always been one of my favorites! I love the cool teal color of the sky and frozen river. It's also a wonderful example of the use of perspective to create depth and the illusion of space.

The Saviour of the World
(1608-14), El Greco

17th Century

Moving to the early 17th century, we see El Greco's version of the Christ. The blessing gesture is similar to that of da Vinci's portrait, including the hand on the orb representing the world, although the color scheme is much more modern. I like the use of contrast, especially accentuating the face and the halo effect.

The Man in the Golden Helmet
(1650), Rembrandt

The mid-17th century paintings that I've chosen are three of my all-time favorite portraits. I do seem to gravitate towards portraits. Rembrandt is famous for having painted the most self-portraits though I love The Man in the Golden Helmet. It also inspired my work nickname 'Gelmet' which my co-workers gave me because of my gel hairdo. I often found people staring at the top of my head, much like how museum patrons might focus on the helmet in this painting.

Las Meninas (1656), Velázquez

There's something about this amazing family portrait by Diego Velázquez. To find out more, see my August 2020 post entitled Things That Go Together in Art – Subjects, Portraits, Landscapes/Seascapes, Still Lifes, and Couples. It does appear to have all the detail in the lower half of the painting, but it seems to work!

Girl with a Paearl Earring
(1665), Vermeer

This classic by Johannes Vermeer is known as the 'Mona Lisa of the North' probably because of her mysterious identity. Vermeer often employed blue and yellow in his detailed portraits, usually of women.

The Blue Boy (1770), Gainsborough

18th Century

Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds were rivals for the position of Painter to the King. On our trip to the UK in 2017, their paintings were curiously hanging side-by-side in one of the national galleries. Growing up in New Jersey, my next-door neighbor had a red sitting room where a copy of Gainsborough's Blue Boy was hung. One of the houses we rented in Port Townsend's Fort Warden had needlepoint versions of Blue Boy and Pinkie (by Thomas Lawrence) hanging side-by-side. The pair, often seen together, also appears in episodes of Leave it to Beaver just inside the Cleavers' front door entry.

The Age of Innocence (1788), Reynolds

I use portraits from Sir Joshua Reynolds and Gilbert Stuart when I do my wrapping paper self-portraits project with fifth graders. Included in one of the packets provided by Interurban Center for the Arts was his portrait of Lady Caroline (1778). The girl in this painting is unknown but is likely Reynolds' great niece.

Athenaeum Portrait
(1796), Stuart

It's unusual to find unfinished paintings on display in galleries and I've only ever seen one of them. I find it interesting that Gilbert Stuart intentionally kept one of his first portraits of George Washington unfinished to use as a model for later works. Martha Washington admired it, but Stuart refused her and painted another one instead.

Cenotaph to the Memory
of Sir Joshua Reynolds
(1833-6), Constable

19th Century

Another painting I saw at the National Gallery in London is John Constable's homage to Sir Joshua Reynolds. I enjoy seeing artwork in person, especially when it's something I've studied in school or researched for my blog or one of my classes. The stag is meant to represent the wild locale of the monument, which in actuality would have been smaller than a full-sized deer. It's up to the artist to create the focal point and provide it the proper emphasis.

Tiger in a Tropical Storm (1891), Rousseau

Here's another diamond in the rough from the National Gallery in London. It's a landscape by Henri Rousseau that could be perceived as a portrait of a tiger. Crouching tiger but no hidden dragon!

Les Oliviers (1889), Van Gogh

Of course, my all-time favorite artist has to be Vincent Van Gogh. It's difficult for me to choose a favorite. While doing research for this blog I continue to discover new (to me) Van Gogh paintings. For example, I saw this one at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. Like Van Gogh's Sunflowers, olive trees were another of his favorite subjects to paint.

I love the paintings of the French Impressionists, but there are too many for me to down select for this blog post. I also love the paintings of Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall. I highly recommend visiting their museums in Nice, France.

Capri Girl (1878), Sargent

Let's finish with the 19th century artists/paintings by including John Singer Sargent's portrait of Capri Girl. My daughter and I saw this work while briefly on exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum and we immediately fell in love with it. She appears to be leaning against the branch of a tree and gracefully becomes part of nature. Her bodice and hair blend into the dark background and her skirt disappears into the flowery field. She was a favorite subject of the artist.

Christina's World (1948), Andrew Wyeth

20th Century

My favorite artists of the 20th century are Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Rockwell, and Andrew Wyeth. Since we're primarily showcasing portraits here, and as a transition from Sargent's Capri Girl, I'm including Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth. His wife Betsy modeled for the painting inspired by the Olson (~30-yr-old) girl he saw crawling in the field.

President Obama (2018), Wiley

Kehinde Wiley is probably the best known African American portrait painter of the 21st century, although Simmie Knox was the first to paint the portrait of a President (Bill Clinton). I had the opportunity to see Wiley's paintings on exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. I also got to see Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series, which was impressive but on a smaller scale than the large decorative works of Wiley. His intricate backgrounds are beautiful! While Lawrence used colorful shapes to build his symbolic compositions, Wiley used colorful patterns to surround and highlight his subjects.

So, who are your favorite artists? Your favorite painting? I find that I often choose to listen to the B-side of a record, straying from the more popular featured song. I also enjoy hearing the more obscure and less played selections (e.g., of Tom Petty songs) just as much as seeing newly discovered works by my favorite visual artists. As with music, you learn to love and appreciate many genres, though you will likely gravitate towards your favorites.

Mona Lisa -- Mysterious Enigma, Misunderstood Masterpiece?

Mona Lisa (1503-06), da Vinci

While Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is perhaps the most famous painting of all time, attracting tens of thousands of viewers each day at the Louvre in Paris, it is also one of the most misunderstood artworks. Initially, the 3/4-view portrait of the supposed Italian housewife was copied by artists who admired it for its realism and "subtle gradations of light and shadow" (sfumato) employed by Leonardo. The imaginary background is also admired for its smoky quality, making it both landscape and portrait. Viewers are more taken in by her 'smile'.

Da Vinci produced the small portrait of an ordinary woman whom scholars identify as Lisa Gherardini, wife of the Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. She is wearing a veil which is difficult to make out amidst the rest of the dark shades employed in her hair and costume. Other paintings of Florentine women typically show more opulent dress including jewelry and rosy cheeks. The subtlety of expression and apparent lack of eyebrows make her less interesting, though more mysterious, than her contemporaries.

LHOOQ (1919), Duchamp

It wasn't until its theft in 1911 that the painting began to increase in popularity. Even when I visited the Louvre a hundred years later, people crowded around a small window to view it deeply shrouded inside a secured chamber. Get ready for disappointment!

Perhaps it was Marcel Duchamp's kitschy mustached reproduction, mocking her as 'the ideal of feminine beauty', that reinvigorated its post-war popularity. My March 2020 post about Shamrocks, Bowler Hats, and Irish Artists shows Lisa wearing a bowler hat. I guess it's the mystery behind the painting, its theft, and the desire to see the real painting amidst all the reproductions that fuel the attraction. See more in the article, "Why is the Mona Lis so Famous?".

Girl with a Paearl Earring
(1665), Vermeer

Personally, I much prefer Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, also known as the 'Mona Lisa of the North' or the 'Dutch Mona Lisa'. A young Scarlett Johansson portrayed the subject (Griet) in the 2003 movie. A little publicity for the northern version!

The Cast of Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

Although I've seen several movies depicting Leonardo da Vinci as a character, I've yet to see one about his Mona Lisa. Curiously, there is the 2003 movie entitled, Mona Lisa Smile, which starred Julia Roberts as an educator, along with three other beauties. And a 1986 British crime-drama movie called Mona Lisa about a call girl.

Tomei as Mona Lisa Vito (1992)

In My Cousin Vinny (1992), Marisa Tomei costars as Mona Lisa Vito, the spunky and obstinate fiancée of Joe Pesci. Even the name of the famous portrait subject gets reused, perpetuating the title and its worldwide recognition! Let's not forget the song of the same name recorded by Nat King Cole in March of 1950.

So, would Mona Lisa be as famous without the somewhat anonymous name, enigmatic expression (the smile), theft attempts, or admired painting techniques? Maybe the mystery itself is what attracts us to it!